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Cape Town - The Blue Bulls pulled some class out of the bag to beat the Griquas with a try bonus point 57-20 in Pretoria on Friday.
The hosts produced a dominant performance as they scored eight tries. They controlled all facets of the game especially the set -piece as the Griquas line-out was shoddy to the say the least.
The bonus-point win takes the home side to second position on the table as they jump above the Sharks and with the tournament coming to a close the win will be most welcomed by the Blue Bulls.
With the pointless loss the Griquas reside at fourth place on the table. They are safe for this round as their immediate threats are the Lions who have already played this week and Western Province who are too far down the table to catch up this weekend and so the Griquas are still in a good position for next weekend.
Piet van Zyl displayed a superb performance after the nippy scrum-half scored two tries and assisted his team mate's tries as well.
The half-time score was indicative of the general proceedings. It was 24-13 at the break and the Griquas failed to get back in the game in the second stanza.
The Griquas drew first blood through a spectacular finish. They pulled off a fantastic turnover, Ederies Arendse picked the ball up off the floor, broke the Bulls line before executing a perfectly weighted kick for Alshaun Bock to run onto and he cantered over the line for the try.
Blue Bulls hit back in the 15th minute when flanker Nic de Jager crashed over the line after some powerful drives from his team mates.
The home side then took the lead when they pulled off an intelligent line-out move that saw hooker Jaco Visagie wrap around the set-piece, swing the ball to Schoeman, who gave an inside pass to Jamba Ulengo running the perfect line to score.
The third try was scored after a great darting run from Van Zyl who took the ball up field before giving it to his forwards who crashed up another ten metres for RG Snyman to finish the movement.
Griquas second-row Mzwanele Zito was then sent off for ten minutes after he targeted the ankles of a Bulls player and went in for a grass cutter tackle. The tackle was considered a reckless one and the referee gave him a yellow card.
The Blue Bulls scored their bonus-point try when Alshaun Bock was isolated at the breakdown and the Bulls managed to grab a turnover ball, Dries Swanepoel releasing the offload in the tackle to send Van Zyl flying through for the five pointer.
Ulrich Beyers scored the sixth try of the game after he was given a long pass from Schoeman as after some terrible defence from the Griquas, the full-back ran through the line untouched.
Van Zyl scored his second try of the game when the Bulls won a line-out before they sent the ball down the wing. Clinton Swart raced out of the line in an offside position as he made the tackle on Schoeman. The referee awarded the Bulls a penalty and Van Zyl played quickly and tapped and went before stepping inside the tackle for the five pointer.
The Griquas responded as they received a penalty and took it quickly inside the Bulls 22 metre line. The visitors caught the Bulls defence at sixes and sevens before a well timed pass was sent Wandile Putuma through for a consolation try on the wing.
Scorers
Blue Bulls
Tries: De Jager, Ulengo, Snyman, Van Zyl (2), Beyers, penalty try, Basson
Conversions: Schoeman (6)
Penalty: Schoeman
Yellow card: Snyman
Griquas
Tries: Bock, Putuma (2)
Conversions: Swart (2)
Penalties: Swart (2)
Yellow card: Zito
Teams
Blue Bulls
15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (c), 7 Nic de Jager, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Martin Dreyer, 18 Jason Jenkins, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Andre Warner, 21 Joshua Stander, 22 Bjorn Basson
Griquas
15 AJ Coertzen (c), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Johnathan Francke, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Alshaun Bock, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Jason Fraser, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Abraham Le Roux, 1 Steph Roberts
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Devon Martinus, 18 Wandile Putuma, 19 Jonathan Adendorf, 20 Renier Botha, 21 Andre Swart, 22 Eric Zana
